OK, here's the thing. As a rough guess, I'd say that I have about a thousand books in our small house. I have at least 20-30 of poetry in two languages. I haven't bought any books for at least 20 years. My eyesight isn't what it was a few decades ago, so I re-read some of the books in my collection on the very laptop I'm using for this screed. Wife teases me that I never read anything less than 300 years old. Somewhat of an exaggeration, but I do like my old stuff, for which digital copies are usually available. The question might have been: "When did you buy buy a book?
Poetry and other literature Reading the posts here I have to weigh in. I believe I remember my HS English teacher saying something like: 'No it means this...' Then I jump ahead to my own stint as HS teacher. I was flabbergasted when I found a cardboard box much bigger than a beer case on my desk. The school had adopted a new textbook, and this was the “material.” It had work sheets and some other stuff I didn't look at. And there was the book that contained “material” on everything in the textbook. The “meaning” of every piece in the book was there!!!! Quick digression: later in the year one of the other teachers was raving about a novel she had just read. “It's a wonderful novel. I wish I “teach” it in my classes. Me: “Why don't you?” She: “I don't have any 'material'” I might have pointed out that she had a degree and was certified to teach HS English, but I didn't. The point here is that if a kid reads a poem, a novel, or any other kind of literature, what (s)he sees in it is VALID, no matter what's in the “materials,' or what the teacher sees. Now my Shakespeare thing. Scholars have been writing scholarly tomes about the Bard for going on 5 centuries? Does that mean that we haven't figured him out yet? No, it means that his things might mean something different to a 20th century society than it did to a 18th century one. I'm in the process of re-reading things I read (and used in classrooms) decades ago. I'm seeing them differently than I did then. Does that mean.....? These things always get longer than I intend, so I'll stop now. Oh yes: the reason for the posts not liking poetry is likely because of teachers who taught out of the “material.”
I had a teacher in high school who was so impressed with a short story I wrote that he read it to the class, and started talking about the meanings behind the story, none of which I had thought of when I wrote it. Mostly, I was just trying to be gross, funny, and somewhat intellectual at the same time. I also did very well in the section on haikus, but I thought haikus were stupid.
I must be the odd one out -- I've purchased 2 books of poetry since this new year, both by friends of mine. The first was enthralling storytelling in poem form. The second was superb wordcraft. Writer's Digest occasionally runs a poetry-prompt-a-day challenge for a month at a time. I did one of those back in 2019 and after adding a few more to it, self-published it as a collection. I like how poetry is a more focused form of writing that paints unexpected images and opens raw emotions you didn't know you were still carrying.
I bought the Psalms by Eugene Peterson - it is all poetry in Hebrew first before all , then in the Message Translation it is again beautiful poetry, significant and realistic about life from beginning to end. Moffatt's Translation also was very poetic, not just in Psalms, but most other books also (I think), as Scripture was written / inspired/ by the greatest wisest Hashem , and used to be memorized daily via song singing the passages, a very good practice indeed and in truth, forever.
... and a book by /about/ Robert Frost, as in "Two Roads Diverged..." One of the only "poets" besides Scripture that I ever memorized anything of (and then only that poem "Two Roads" ) ...
The only poems I remember all have the word "Nantucket" in it. I did buy a copy of "Leaves Of Grass" for a lady friend about 50 years ago.
LOL Hoot! did you know it was Limerick Day last week? Here's a non-Nantucket version: There once was a buttoned up writer Who deep down inside was a fighter For wild thoughts created, All fantasies sated. Retirement will surely delight her.
Hmmm……I was about to write, all you guys are lying like a rug, but I won’t. A 13 or 14 year old boy smitten with the love bug wants to woo Sally Sue so he gets a book of poetry so he can plagiarize his next note he’s gonna pass to her in English class. Whether borrowed, checked out at the library, purchased or something he heard on the radio, I’ve never heard of a young teen boy who hasn’t tried at least a limerick to get to Sally’s heart. So who is so dumb that cannot write to thee, when thou thyself doth give invention light. or Roses and Red, Violets are blue, the next line I forgot but i cannot forget you. or There once was a lady from Scranton….uh, never mind.
Hello @Marci Pankratz . Glad to see another published poet here. Might you point us to the titles of the books your work is in? I love to read other poets.